Isolation of RNA from small human articular cartilage specimens allows quantification of mRNA expression levels in local articular cartilage defects

Human adult cartilage is an inherently difficult tissue from which to isola te RNA. The RNA isolation techniques described so far have generally only b een successfully applied to the isolation of RNA from larger amounts of car tilage. However, it is important to be able to analyse focal cartilage less ons in order to understand the local processes in the cartilage degeneratio n process. Therefore, we have developed a protocol for isolating RNA direct ly from as little as 10 mg wet weight of cartilage followed by quantitative PCR analysis. We were able to analyse the expression levels of several gen es in parallel including aggrecan and type II collagen. (C) 2001 Orthopaedi c Research Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.